Harry Kewell is set to become one of Australian sports¿ biggest coups after agreeing to join Melbourne Victory.
Former Leeds and Liverpool man joins Victory
Harry Kewell is set to become one of Australian sports' biggest coups after agreeing to join Melbourne Victory.
The former Leeds and Liverpool star put pen to paper on a three-year deal with the A-League outfit and will link up with his new team-mates in early September ahead of the new domestic season.
Kewell was delighted to make the move to Melbourne Victory after leaving Australia as a teenager to move to Europe.
"It has always been my ambition to play in my home country and I am pleased to have that opportunity by playing for Melbourne Victory," Kewell said.
Melbourne chairman Anthony Di Pietro hailed the signing of Kewell and believes his arrival will boost the sport in Australia.
Major signing
"We believe this is the biggest player signing in the history of Australian sport," Melbourne chairman Anthony Di Pietro told foxsports.com.au.
"(We) expect it to gain unprecedented interest in the game and our club. We expect everyone to jump on board."
While Kewell was omitted from the Australia squad three weeks ago by national coach Holger Osieck due to lack of match-fitness, Melbourne coach Mehmet Durakovic is confident his marquee signing will arrive in good shape.
"Harry is a true professional. If it's one thing Harry looks after it's his body. I've got no doubts on 8th October that he will be there," he said.
"We had a training session this morning, got all the players together and told them the good news.
"Everyone is over the moon, especially the young boys."
The news is without doubt the biggest in Australian football history and his first appearance in a Melbourne shirt is guaranteed to draw a record crowd.
Despite having arguably one of the country's greatest ever players at his disposal, Durakovic will not be doing Kewell any favours.
"Harry will be treated like everybody else. We are a family, and we want to build a football culture in our club and there are some fantastic footballers in our team," he added.
"Everybody will get a fair share of game time and of they really play well, they will get a game the following week."
